


A Leopard and Its Spots

by phoenix_writing



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:07:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21878629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenix_writing/pseuds/phoenix_writing
Summary: Mrs. Weasley invites the Dursleys to Harry and Ginny's wedding.  It does not go as Harry expected.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley
Kudos: 39





	A Leopard and Its Spots

**Author's Note:**

> I haven’t read Cursed Child (and am still not sure that I ever intend to), but I’m writing this based on a prompt that asked for Harry & Ginny’s wedding, so I Wiki’d a little to try to stay close to canon for certain basic facts relating to this period. It’s intended to be canon-compliant.

~*~

“What?” Harry said blankly.

Ginny touched his arm. “Mum meant it for the best.”

“Inviting the _Dursleys_ to our wedding?” he said, trying to keep his voice down with minimal success.

“They’re your last living relatives,” Ginny said like it should be obvious. “She didn’t want to exclude them.”

Harry let out a huff of breath. “Oh, I was pretty happy with excluding them forever.”

They had excluded _him_ , and he had lived with them.

“You _did_ approve the guest list,” Ginny challenged, beginning to sound a little annoyed now.

Yeah, Harry had mostly just smiled and nodded and let the Weasleys do the planning. They knew way more people in the wizarding world than he did, and by the time you added in the people Ginny knew from the Quidditch circuit, the people that they were sure had to be invited because of Harry’s position at the Ministry … well, it had just seemed better to let them figure it out themselves.

Belligerently, Harry said, “You’re telling me that the most narrow-minded, magic-hating Muggles that I know are coming to our wedding?”

“Just your cousin,” Ginny said quickly. “Your aunt and uncle declined.”

Sighing, Harry acknowledged, “Well, at least I can hex him if things go horribly wrong.”

Ginny laughed. “Because that’s exactly what an Auror should be doing.”

Harry subsided with a disgruntled huff.

Ginny slipped an arm around his waist. “We’ll rescind the invitation if it upsets you that much. This is meant to be a special day, you know.”

Feeling like an ogre now, Harry leaned in for a kiss, which Ginny returned willingly.

Earnestly, he told her, “This is a very special day, and no Dursley on the planet can change that.”

Ginny smiled at him, the bright, sweet look that made him feel like her personal hero, not the mythical Chosen One.

And Harry’s childhood notwithstanding, how bad could one Dursley really be?

~*~

Throughout the wedding, it had been almost impossible to think about anything except the beautiful redhead who had consented to marry him, tying her life to his just as surely as he had tied his to hers.

At the reception, Harry happily murmured to himself, “Ginny Potter.”

Hermione sounded amused. “It means that much to you?”

He turned to her, not having fully realised that she was close enough to hear him. Everything felt a little bit out of focus but perfect, sort of like what he remembered from when he’d drunk the Felix Felicis. Everything was just … easy and happy and every good thing.

So he smiled at Hermione and tried to explain, suddenly mindful of the fact that he was talking to someone who _hadn’t_ taken her husband’s last name. “Well, if she’d wanted to stay Ginny Weasley, I’d still be happy because I’d still be getting the most amazing wife out there, but I guess her taking my name makes it feel in my head that we’re suddenly a family. Like I was the only Potter left, but now there’s another one. That’s silly, isn’t it?”

Hermione’s smile had softened. “No, that’s not silly, Harry. I’m glad you’re happy.”

“Let’s dance!” Harry said suddenly.

Although there had been a little of the formal dancing that had terrified Harry at the Yule Ball, most of his wedding had been a much more relaxed, far-less-scrutinised experience—and one where Harry wasn’t pining after anyone, thank you very much, but had just married his preferred partner. That took a lot of the pressure off, really, and once Harry and Ginny had opened the dancing, it had quickly devolved to every Weasley under the sun dancing with Ginny, Harry dancing with Molly, and then a sort of free-for-all until Ginny and Harry could meet up again before one or the other of them was born off once more. With all the dancing, the kissing, the eating, the drinking, someone occasionally turning into a giant squirrel or changing colour without warning because yes, George had got into the punch, it was actually not until nearly eleven o’clock at night that it occurred to Harry that he hadn’t seen any sign of Dudley.

With relief, Harry realised that he must never have intended to come but had accepted just to mess with Harry’s head.

When he confessed this to Ginny, however, she shook her head.

“He’s over there with Luna right now.”

Harry whirled, having to still his urge to go for his wand. From the look Ginny was throwing at him, she’d noticed the instinctive reaction. There _was_ someone with Luna, chatting intently, but he was … normal-sized, and for a long moment, it literally did not compute in Harry’s brain that this could possibly be his cousin.

Harry made his way over to the two of them immediately, beginning to feel angry. If Dudley had left Harry alone but started targeting his wedding guests, Harry was definitely going to make him regret it.

“What’s going on?” Harry demanded aggressively as soon as he was within hearing range.

They looked up at him, Luna serenely, and Dudley clearly startled.

“Hello, Harry,” Luna said serenely. “You look annoyed.”

“Uh.” Harry had somehow not expected Luna to call him on it.

Dudley reached out and touched Luna’s hand gently.

“I think it’s with me.”

He rose to his feet, smiled, and held out his hand.

“Hello, Harry. Congratulations on your wedding.”

On automatic, Harry took it, shaking the hand as he catalogued the differences between this … man and the child he had known. He was still taller than Harry—and technically wider than him, too. But Harry didn’t think that he’d seen so extreme a transformation since the last time he’d used Polyjuice. Like Harry, he was no longer a child, and it looked like he’d put a lot of work into getting into shape. His eyes were still a little too close together, but no longer surrounded by his big, round face, they didn’t look tiny. His nose was strong, he actually had a chin, and he bore more resemblance to Petunia than to Vernon, now. He looked nice in a suit, actually, and if Harry hadn’t had seventeen years of history with him, he’d probably just think that he was a nice, normal-looking bloke.

As Ginny arrived, she slipped her arm through his and took the opportunity to nudge Harry in the side with her elbow. Harry let go of Dudley’s hand and remembered to be a regular human being.

“Thanks. Uh, I’ve obviously made this too awkward not to remark on your appearance. I, uh, actually didn’t realise that you were here until now. I guess I’ve never stopped imagining you as my kid cousin, despite the fact that I’ve grown up. You look great, Dudley.”

Dudley’s lips tipped up. “Thanks, Harry. You look all grown up too.”

And not even a quip about Harry being the runt of the litter after Harry’s obvious overreaction? It seemed like it was definitely more than simply the physical that had changed.

“Thanks for coming,” Ginny said, holding out her own hand. “I’m Ginny Potter.”

Harry felt his face heat. “Yeah, I, uh, guess you haven’t met my wife. Ginny, this is my cousin, Dudley Dursley.”

“Nice to meet you, Ginny.”

“And you,” Ginny said, managing casual chitchat much better than Harry was. “How have you been enjoying yourself?”

“Very much,” Dudley said with a ready smile which reminded Harry of his childhood and yet totally didn’t. The emotion fuelling it was different, Harry supposed. “I mean, I’m steering well clear of the punch, but it’s actually been really interesting to see all the … positive magic that you guys just take for granted.”

Doing a quick review of pretty much any of the magic that Dudley had witnessed up to this point, Harry could suddenly kind of see how this might be a game changer. Harry had always just assumed his cousin would be offended by all of it, as Aunt Petunia and Uncle Dursley had seemed to be, but pig tails and ton tongues and Dementors and levitating cakes and blown up aunts and … yeah, that was kind of not a lot of positive examples of anything magical.

“Thanks for coming,” Harry said. Everyone looked at him, and he realised that could be construed as a dismissal. “No, I, uh, really appreciate it, and I just thought I should get that out there now. I hadn’t realised how I was angry that you were all villifying magic out of hand but was dismissing you all right back.”

Dudley hesitated for a moment before he said, “Mum and dad haven’t changed much.”

Harry laughed. “Yes, well, let’s not get too crazy.”

Dudley drew a deep breath and looked Harry straight in the eye. “I know it’s probably too little, too late, but for what it’s worth, I’m sorry I made your life a living hell growing up.”

For a moment, Harry felt oddly rudderless, like something that had been a constant in his life had been removed without warning. But in its place came the growing certainty that people grew up and there was always hope.

With a smile, Harry said, “You know what? Under the circumstances, I’m willing to take that in the light of training for what was to come in my crazy life. If you can grow up to not hate magic and to give people a chance on their own merit, I will take that as a win. Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

Dudley’s eyes strayed to Luna. “I think I will, thanks.”

Ginny pulled Harry out onto the dance floor, and as he swept her into his arms, he said, “You’ll thank Molly for me, won’t you? For inviting the Dursleys?”

Ginny smiled at him, the soft smile that was just for him, and nodded. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he told her, leaning in for a kiss.

~*~

_Finite incantatem_

**Author's Note:**

> The prompts I was working with were:
> 
> 1\. Harry and Ginny invite the Dursleys to their wedding (just to be proper) and then they actually show up...  
> 2\. Or Dudley (now grown up and out of being a bully) meets Luna Lovegood and falls in love, and takes her home to meet his parents...
> 
> 3\. I think Dudley would be interesting after he was surprised by forgiveness, that is, Harry's saving him from the Dementors. Wouldn't it be neat if his attitude and life changed from his parent's hatred of all things magical?
> 
> I tweaked a little to try to incorporate as much of all the prompts as possible. I wanted to figure out how to work in a final prompt (Lily and James on their first date), and I thought at first that I could have it mentioned at the wedding, but unfortunately, I don’t think there’s anyone left alive who could reasonably be expected to know and relay it. :(
> 
> I was going to try for comedy, but that’s really not what was coming out, so I went with this serious snippet instead. I guess I wanted more hope than farce.


End file.
